123rd AES Convention Press Release

123rd AES CONVENTION GOT GAME(S)

Workshops & Tutorials Range From Game To Concert Hall To Auto Audio

NEW YORK:
The growing fascination with electronic gaming has achieved a level of
global recognition which rivals movies, TV and popular music. As game
design and performance techniques grow in sophistication audio's role in
the playing experience has become paramount to players and developers
alike. AES 123rd Convention Workshop and Tutorial Chair
Alex Case invited THX Design Engineering Manager Steven Martz
to develop a triathlon of events to provide attendees with a crash
course in creating sound for interactive gaming.

Game Workshops and Tutorials Include:

ADAPTIVE MUSIC FOR GAMES - Interactive XMF In Depth: Technical lead Chris Grigg - IASIG and panelistsSimon Amarasingham - dSonic Inc. and Brian Gomez - Alchemic Productions - will discusslinear music in a non-linear world. How can a video game's completely interactive and unpredictable environment reproduce continuous musical content capable of adapting to the playing experience? An insiders view to the creation and implementation of adaptive music.

AUDIO FOR GAMES: Dialog Recording, Workflow and Asset Management - It is not unheard-of to have 9,000 lines of dialog (or other audio assets) in a game. Presenter(s): Jory Prum - studio.jory.org and Marc Schaefgen - Midway Home Entertainmentwill provide a step-by-step look at the monumental task of recording, editing, and organizing voluminous amounts of material. Methods will be presented for script management, session set-up and flow, and actor interfacing.

DEVELOPING AUDIO FOR GAMES: Presenter Marc Schaefgen - Midway Home Entertainment will address the evolution of game audio from simplistic bloops and bleeps to production values that rival Hollywood movies. This tutorial will detail the development cycle of the modern video game, from content creation to completion with a special emphasis on the functionality of a well-integrated audio team.

"In Chairing both the Workshop and the Tutorial Committees Alex Case has done an extraordinary job in researching and coordinating these AES Convention linchpins," remarked Convention Chair Jim Anderson. "The diversity and authority of these events represent the apex of knowledge sharing, and attendees are certain to reap long-term benefits from their participation."

RECORDING LARGE ENSEMBLES IN MULTICHANNEL (Fri Oct. 5, 9AM - noon): Chair Martha DeFrancisco, McGill University - Montreal, Panelists: Akira Fukada, NHK; Everett Porter, Polyhymnia and Grammy-winning engineer/producer Elliot Scheiner - Born in the European salons of the 18th century aristocracy, the symphony orchestra continues to play an important role in our contemporary musical life. Capturing the sounds of these and other large ensembles remains a challenge to recording engineers and producers. Multichannel recording adds a new dimension of realism and enhanced expressivity to large-ensemble recordings. This workshop explores evolving methods for transporting a huge body of sound from a concert hall into a listeners' private space. Note: A quality listening session featuring many of the recordings discussed at this Workshop will be held on Saturday, Oct. 6, 9:30AM - noon.

CONCERT HALLS AND THEIR ACOUSTICS: Chair John F. Allen founder & president High Performance Stereo (Boston).Panelists Dr. Barry Blesser, Author and former AES President; Jonathan McPhee, music director of the Boston Ballet; Dr. Leo L. Beranek, acousticians Larry Kirkegaard and Alan Valentine (CEO of the Nashville Symphony Orchestra) and Chris Blair, Partner, Akustiks of Norwalk, CT - A group of world class acousticians will discuss why audiences respond to their acoustic environments and why acoustics is as critical for the musicians as for the audience.

MASTERING FOR NEW MEDIA - Chair Gavin Lurssen Grammy-winning head of Lurssen Mastering, and PanelistsCarl Peel-Music Producer, Killer Tracks, LA; Derek Jones-Music Producer, Megatrax, LA; Daniel Holte, Music Producer, Burst Collective, Milwaukee and Chris Athens, Mastering Engineer, Sterling Sound, NY will discuss the common denominator in all commercial music. The mastering process has created a visceral expectation to the untrained ear. As the industry changes, mastering engineers have become more in demand to fulfill this expectation, specifically for new media outlets. This panel will address "What remains the same and what has changed?"

USER-CENTERED DESIGN OF PRO AUDIO CONTROLLERS: Chair William Martens Associate Professor, Schulich School of Music McGill University and a blue ribbon panels featuring Durand Begault NASA Ames Research Center; Jeremy Cooperstock, Associate Professor McGill University; George Massenburg, GML, and Bob Ludwig, Gateway Mastering will examine the design of controllers and/or work surfaces for music recording and mixing from the experienced user's perspective. This workshop will be highlighted by a realtime brainstorming session about new control layouts using tools designed to stimulate "thinking outside of the box."

The 123rd AES Convention will be held in NY's Jacob Javits Convention Center, October 5 - 8 2007. For registration and housing information and for a detailed Preliminary Calendar of Events please visit www.aes.org.

Formed in 1948 by a group of concerned audio engineers, the
Audio Engineering Society counts over 14,000 members throughout the
U.S., Latin America, Europe, Japan and the Far East. The AES serves as
the pivotal force in the exchange and dissemination of technical
information for the professional audio industry. For additional
information visit http://www.aes.org.